Have you ever wondered how long the world’s longest noodle might be? I’m guessing, probably not. Well the answer according to this article is 1,704 metres long. The noodle was created by a group of cooks in China and has recently set a new Guinness World Record for the longest handmade noodle.

If you don’t like the thought of using “naked” scanners at airports then this may be the solution. It’s a range of underwear which claims to be x-ray proof so that your most private parts don’t show up on airport scanners. The range which includes pants and vests for men and women has been invented by a man called Steve Bradshaw. He claims that they are able to coat body parts whilst still allowing operators to see potentially dangerous objects such as guns, knives and explosives. They work by using a paint made from barium sulphate, aluminium, ground glass and other materials which reflects and scatters the x-rays in a particular area, diffusing the image but also allowing dangerous items to still be seen. It looks like an interesting idea but is still yet to be tested with a scanner.

These are interesting, they are made by artist Kobi Levi who makes unusual sculptures out out of shoes. The artist from Tel Aviv, Israel spends about a week making each sculpture by hand and all the finished pieces are supposed to still be wearable. They are certainly interesting and I’m sure you would create an impact with one of these designs that looks like a swan, slingshot or children’s slide. I quite like the toucan ones.

According to this article champagne sales in Britain jumped last year after a two year slump. Figures show that around five million more bottles of champagne were drunk in Britain last year than in 2009. With shipments of champagne increasing 16.3 % to 35.5 million bottles, Britain is now the second biggest drinker of champagne after France. Much of the growth is though to have been driven by the supermarkets offering champagne discounts as a way to drive customers to their stores. Whatever the reason it appears that we have developed quite a taste for the sparkling stuff.

This is a Lily a cat that according to this article can predict epileptic fits. Lily’s owner Nathan suffers from epilepsy but it seems that Lily can predict when the fits are about to occur acting as a kind of furry early warning system. Apparently it is not unheard of for cats to be able to do this. It make me wonder whether I should listen to my cats when they start howling for no reason, perhaps they are trying to tell me something useful after all.

Two new species of stingray have been discovered in the Amazon rain forest. The stingrays which have been likened to pancakes are the first new stingray genus to be found in the Amazon in more than 20 years. They have been named Heliotrygon gomesi and Heliotrygon rosai and feature slits on their bellies and a tiny spine of their tails.

I tried making some poached chicken the other day and it was quite tasty. The chicken was poached for about 15 minutes in a mixture of water and wine with a few herbs to give it flavour. You can read more about poaching chicken here if you want to give it a go. The end result was a tender tasty chicken breast which I served on top of tagliatelle cooked with crème fraiche, bacon and parmesan sprinkled with parsley. It makes a fairly quick and easy mid week meal.

According to this article Subway has become the world’s largest fast food chain overtaking even McDonald’s. The chain now has 33,749 outlets in 95 countries whereas rival McDonalds have 32,737 and Burger King just over 12,000. Britain alone now has 1,350 Subway outlets. I suppose people perceive a sub from Subway to be a more healthy option than a McDonald’s burger when in many cases the calorie content is quite similar. I am surprised by the rapid expansion of the chain, it seems that almost every town now has a Subway.

I was aware that some restaurants were now starting to display calorie content on their menus but it also seems that under the same health initiative pubs will start to display the number of alcohol units a drink contains. Although the initiative is voluntary it could see beermats and pint glasses being redesigned to show consumers what proportion of their daily limit they are drinking. The scheme covers food, alcohol, physical activity, health at work and behaviour change and is designed to help people make better lifestyle choices.

This is good idea to make use of roof top space to grow vegetables. The scheme called Food from the Sky has planted this vegetable garden on top of the roof of Budgens in Crouch End. The garden was actually started last May and is now producing enough vegetables to sell in the supermarket each Friday. The garden uses food waste from the supermarket to make compost and grows a variety of produce including potatoes, peas, broccoli, strawberries and raspberries. The warmth from the supermarkets heating and lighting systems apparently creates the perfect conditions for the plants because it helps to protect them from the worst of the frosts. The rooftop garden also has the advantage of being free from slugs and snails. It certainly is a good idea and a clever use of space, as the scheme expands hopefully we will see more of these gardens and perhaps one might soon come to a supermarket near you.

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